Valkyrie Goes to Gotham
by Valiant Toaster
Summary: Valkyrie Goes to Gotham. Valkyrie meets the Team. They kick butt. No pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**The title says it all. The last episode of Young Justice never happened. Everything in Skulduggery Pleasant did. If I play with canon too much it might explode or something. No, wait...**

 **I will try with this one. I will try to keep everyone as IC as possible. I will try my best not to make things up. But I will make things up. Otherwise what sort of story will this be?**

 **Uh, no pairings. I'll try to update every week. _Try_.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any bits I do not own.**

Valkyrie in Gotham CHAPTER ONE

Valkyrie was driving the Oompa Loompa.

On one hand she was kind of surprised that her parents hadn't thrown it out. It had been what, five years and they hadn't gotten rid of it? It sort of made her sad on how hopeful her parents were that she would come back soon, even though she told them that she wasn't going to be back for a long time. Well, at least she was back now and working hard for redemption.

Valkyrie turned up the road that lead to Gordon's house. What, you didn't expect her to live away from her parents? Well she was an adult now, she couldn't live with her parents! Although deep inside, Valkyrie wanted to stay a child forever and live with her mum and dad and baby sister, who wasn't quite a baby anymore and she-

PHHSSSSSTTTTTT!

A big pink-red ( _It's called magenta you idiot)_ fireball bloomed behind the trees to her left. She braked immediately and turned off the car lights, her hand moving instinctively to her shock-stick. It probably, hopefully, maybe, luckily, wasn't Roarhaven citizens. Did they have a proper name? Roarhavenians? Roarhavenish? Whatever they were called, they probably knew she was back by now, but there was no way they knew where she lived. No damn way. So who was it?

Valkyrie decided to go find out and cautiously opened the door. No fireball-lobbing crazies jumped out at her so she deemed it save to keep going, sneaking into the woods with her shock stick held in front of her so she could bash whomever it was on the head and then fry them with her lightning powers. She was fifteen minutes into attempting to walk into the woods quietly like a ninja, when she stopped suddenly, realising two things simultaneously.

First was that she knew of nobody whose fireballs looked like that. It could be a metahuman for all she knew and she could probably get away with calling a hotline or something, so no need to sneak up on them. The second was that she was incredibly lost and had no way of getting to the fireball thrower, the Oompa Loompa or Gordon's house.

She was so lost in her own thoughts that she almost didn't hear the talking. But she did, a childish whine that immediately pissed the hell out of her, so she decided to find the face the voice came out of and punch it. She began sneaking again, almost stumbling stupidly into a clearing, taking a step back to avoid revealing herself to the people there.

They were people there, Valkyrie was sure of that, but in what context exactly she wasn't. One of them had long hair tied back in a ponytail and had a claw scar across his face. He was like that commander dude from Wolverine, which Wolverine had slashed in the face after being metal-fied.

Then she recognised him. And almost took a step back.

It was Vandal Savage. She had heard of him and his incredibly stubborn non-dying-ness. That guy was like an unwanted pimple that just kept coming back. But worse. What the hell was he doing in the woods on Gordon's land? Shouldn't he have been beating up the Justice League or destroying the world in an overly elaborate way?

 _What exactly do you think he's doing? Throwing a party? Go out there and seriously mess up his plans!_

She was about to do so, lighting up her hand from within and getting ready to blast him, when a kid in a suit and about a million henchmen teleported in.

The kid looked seriously weird, with horns and greasy hair and _oh my god was that a cat!?_ Until she recognised him too. Klarion, Lord of Chaos and no doubt owner of that annoying voice.

"We got it!" sang Klarion and danced around with Teekl in a seriously unlordly like manner. He gestured to a minion, who in turn held up some tongs clamped around a black crystal light within by a dark light.

 _What!_ Thought Valkyrie. _The crystals? What the hell are they up to?_

"Is it as powerful as they say?" asked Savage.

"Oh, no." laughed Klarion. "It's even better! It turned Steve Slave One, Five and Twelve to dust until we figured out not to touch it."

Savage frowned (well, frowned _more_ ) as if wondering why Klarion had named each and every henchmen Steve. Valkyrie was reminded of Dusk's Minions One and Two. But let's remember that he is the Lord of Chaos and doesn't seem to have an actual reason for doing anything.

"And now to Gotham!" shouted Klarion excitedly, cackling a little. "These pretty rocks will be mine!"

Valkyrie took a couple of steps running forwards, figuring that she may as well stop them from doing whatever the hell they were doing. She had not taken more than five steps forwards when they inexplicably disappeared, and she stumbled to a stop anticlimactically. Klarion had teleported them away. Now she really wanted to punch him in the face. And she didn't really want to find out what they were going to do with a crystal that could turn people to dust with a touch.

 _Oh well_ , she thought, trying not to think about the earth shattering connotations for the world. _At least now I have a reason to meet up with Hansard Kray now that he lives in Gotham_.

She returned her shock stick to her back and walked back to the Oompa Loompa. She needed something to focus on, something that wasn't Darquesse or that she left her family, even as she was going to do so now.

She had left them before and she was fine and so were they, as they would be fine this time round.

Hopefully.

She would get Skulduggery and Tanith to look after them. She would like to see Klarion's face if he tried to break in. It would be blasted off and cut into little pieces. Yeah. It would be fine.

 **Valkyrie is going to Gotham! Ahahahaha! What will happen? Will Hansard Kray flirt back? Will her family be fine? Find out next time!**


	2. and then there was one cough Saracen

**So hello again! It's almost the end of the week, I can no longer hold it off. You're welcome by the way.**

 **Georgie: It's set after season 2, but the last episode _never existed._ And thanks! I myself wanted a crossover, but the only way to get one quick enough for me was to write it!**

 **Anyway, here is chapter two, in which Derek's author avatar is attacked by one of his characters. Because irony, that's why.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own it. I do own it. Depends if you made it or not.**

Valkyrie in Gotham CHAPTER TWO

The Batcave had layers of security. The Batcave could identify a thief possibly as they discovered there _was_ a Batcave, nevermind where it was and how to get in. The Batcave was a secret within a secret within a fortress protected by the Batman. The Batcave was _impenetrable._

Bruce Wayne's manor, however, was not. Bruce blamed Alfred for that, the man insisting that it would look rather strange if any who tried to break in mysteriously disappeared, or worse, didn't manage to get in at all. So he had to let anyone sneak in, sneak in, and just let the police be waiting to catch them.

So he felt mildly impressed that someone managed to sneak in _undetected_ (a rather different feat all together) and actually get away with something priceless instead of that warm feeling he was sure that the thieves always got when they managed to sneak into Bruce Wayne's house.

They had stolen a black crystal given to them by an incredibly grumpy old Irish professor, who had asked Bruce Wayne to keep it safe and to _never touch it_. He wasn't in the habit of superstition but his common sense as well as a healthy degree of caution. He had wanted to take it down to the Batcave to study it but Alfred (damn that man!) had suggested that it would be a good accessory for his playboy routine. It had proven to be so, but that wasn't the point. The point was that he was leaving for Rann in twenty minutes, had yet to pull on the cowl and hadn't the time to be investigate, especially when intergalactic matters were at hand. Still, he couldn't just _leave_ , when that mysterious black crystal could be used for god-knows-what.

"Master Bruce, sir?"

Bruce looked to Alfred and raised an eyebrow.

"May I suggest Master Dick to investigate in his capacity as a private detective sir? Rumours will me out soon sir about the theft and it will look strange if we do not follow up in any way."

Bruce nodded his head in consent, moving to the grandfather clock in which lay the way to the Batcave.

It was for the best.

Probably.

Valkyrie was in an airport. True, she had been in an airport about a gazillion times before then, but this time things were different. This time her family was here. And no, that was not a good thing.

Her dad was currently and officially lost. Her mum kept mumbling exasperatedly to herself. Alice had kicked Saracen Rue in the shins, despite the fact she had been complaining about having a headache not three minutes before. Fletcher had fallen asleep. Valkyrie wondered briefly why they had all come. It wasn't like she hadn't done this before. Maybe there was an allure from each side of her life to see each other.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Yelled Saracen, hopping up and down on one leg, clutching at the other, "What was that for?"

Alice frowned up at him. "You stole my cake!"

"No, I didn't." Saracen objected weakly.

Alice glared at him and stuck out her lower lip.

Saracen relented. "OK fine, maybe I did…"

Alice kicked him again.

"Ow! Val, feel free to stop this at any time!"

Valkyrie sighed and pulled them apart.

"Saracen." she said. "Don't steal Alice's cake."

"Alice." She said. "Good job."

Alice beamed. Saracen glared. Valkyrie was sure he was about to start accusing her of favouritism when Tanith and Skulduggery walked in dragging Desmond.

"We found him." Said Tanith and scowled at Desmond.

Valkyrie's mum scowled at him too. "Desmond, what were you doing?"

Desmond held up a pink teddy bear, "Look what I've got!" he pronounced proudly, "It's for our daughter."

"I'm too old for a teddy bear." Said Alice, frowning at her daddy.

"Sorry sweetie, but I was thinking along the lines of this being Stephanie's actually."

"No, thank you." Said Valkyrie.

"Please." Begged Desmond.

Valkyrie sighed and took the teddy bear, tucking it onto her carry-on luggage. She hugged her mum and dad.

"Bye mum, dad. I'll be back before you know it."

She kneeled down until she was at Alice's height. "Alice?"

"Yeah sis?"

"Look after Saracen for me. Make sure he doesn't get too fat."

"Will do." Grinned Alice and leaned forwards to give Valkyrie a hug. "Bye Steph."

Valkyrie blinked back sudden tears. "Bye Alice."

She leant back and regarded Tanith, Saracen and Skulduggery. With Fletcher she yelled in his ear to wake him up and he fell backwards into a pot plant. Valkyrie rolled her eyes and pulled him up.

Fletcher quickly messed up his hair again. Valkyrie sighed.

She hugged Tanith, "OK Tanith, make sure that Fletcher doesn't manage to kill himself on pot plants while I'm gone. Make sure that Skulduggery doesn't run out of hats and look after Alice and mum and dad for me, kay?"

"Don't worry." Tanith winked. "They're in safe hands."

Valkyrie smiled and turned to Saracen.

"Saracen." She said. "You _will_ be able to guard my family, but _only_ if you choose to stop eating other people's cake."

Saracen's face dropped. "It was that _one time!_ "He protested. Alice sent him a look and he relented, "Fine."

Fletcher looked thoughtful (for once). "What is my job? I do get a job, right?"

"No clue." Said Valkyrie. "I'm sorta just making it up as a go along. You can um, be my backup. In case I need to run away from Klarion really, _really_ fast."

Fletcher nodded and looked proud of himself.

"Skulduggery." Said Valkyrie.

"Valkyrie." Said Skulduggery.

She pointed to her family. "Skulduggery, do you see what I'm pointing to"

"The windows? The plane?"

"No."

"The pot plant?"

"No."

"Your departure area?"

"No."

"Ah." He nodded. "Is it your family? Do you want me to look after your family? You could have just said so, it would be quicker, as your flight is leaving right about now."

"What!" Valkyrie hurriedly checked her watch and then swung her backpack onto her shoulders. She started walking backwards and shouting at the same time.

"Right." Valkyrie said. "Look after my family. Look after yourselves. I'll be right back!"

Valkyrie ran off, hoping that the flight wouldn't leave without her. She dodged around a man hauling what seemed to be a life-sized dog statue and kept running. The last time she was running in this airport she had been chasing Necromancers. This time, she hoped, would be a lot more pleasant.

Tanith watched Valkyrie run off. She wished she could follow her.

"I wish you could follow her." said Desmond, watching her go. Alice nodded silently.

"Well." said Skulduggery. "There's no reason why not."

He brushed his hat and Tanith grinned.

"Say, Fletcher." She said. "You wouldn't mind making a detour to Gotham on the way home, would you?"

"It would be my pleasure." Fletcher said.

Saracen rolled his eyes.

 **And that is why Valkyrie doesn't give orders. THEY WILL BE DISOBEYED! And an almost unintentional pun is in there. And Batman, you can't go wrong with Batman. Until next weekish...**


	3. Chapter 3 Something Bad Happens

Valkyrie Gpes to Gotham CHAPTER THREE

 **So, I'm back. I haven't updated since the dinosaurs died but I was punched. In the face. And then I went to a place where 'Twas no internet. It was awful. But let's face it, I'm back a whole lot quicker that other people and I've written like nothing. It's all water under the bridge in my opinion.**

 **Georgie: *glances guiltily at story. Good luck "keeping tabs". No, seriously.**

 **Disclaimer: So, I've just discovered that most Authors/Creators don't read fanfictions of their work because then** _ **we**_ **can sue them for taking our ideas. So if we're suing them and they're suing us, except we can't do those thing then WHO IS DOING THE SUEING?! WHAT THE HELL!**

 **...**

 **Also, I don't own this, so don't sue.**

 **...**

 **Or I'll sue you. For taking my rather rubbish ideas and not using them.**

 **...**

 **...**

 **That's how suing works, right?**

Alice was lying down in her room, and believe her, she didn't want to be there. But she had a headache and she was annoyed that her big sister Stephanie was going off having adventures and going to Gotham! The home of the Batman himself. She was a bit jealous, but mostly she was scared that Steph wouldn't come back. Alice was always scared Steph wouldn't come back.

Alice sighed and rolled over. At least Steph's cool friends were here, except for the nice lady and the skeleton man, Tanith and Something Punny, along with the weird boy with the weirder hair. They were going to look after Steph. But Dexter and Rueful were still here and therefore she could probably convince them to buy her cake to make up for The Cake Incident, despite the fact that they had all sworn not to ever speak of it again.

Alice suddenly felt a great pressure in her head, like someone had encased it in cement and it had shrunk down a size or two. It hurt. It really, really hurt. She didn't know things could hurt this much…..

She stood up to go get some help and the room in front of her blurred. She hoped that it wasn't one of those bad magic people that Steph always caught. Stephanie wasn't here to stop them. She took a couple of steps and opened her mouth to call for help.

Instead, quite to her surprise, she felt herself falling. She hit the ground with an awful thud and rolled a bit. And then promptly fell unconscious, much in the same way she fell over.

And she didn't quite know how wrong she was, how very wrong. It wasn't one of those bad magic people. It was worse. So. Much. Worse.

Dick was late.

He seriously had to stop doing that, but the Team and Justice League and Batman ate up much of his time. He ran through the streets, wondering why he didn't take his motorcycle. Oh, well.

As soon as he got to his desk, his office, his PI firm, he immediately face-planted.

Dick was really, _really_ tired.

He had stayed up all night, trying to figure out what Klarion and Savage were up to. They were definitely up to something, but sometimes Dick felt it would just be _easier_ if they told him what it was. The result would probably be the same, except a whole lot less _work_.

He wasn't aware he had fallen asleep, except that Hansard Kray had just placed a _meter tall_ pile of papers next to him and he had woken up because of the thump. He groaned and raised his head and Hansard Kray politely smiled in an annoyingly cheerful way.

"What do you want?" grumbled Dick, lowering his head back down to his desk.

Hansard Kray looked pleased with himself, which was a bad sign. Bad, _bad_ , sign.

"Well, I've got bad news and better news, so which one do you want?"

"None of them preferably." said Dick, not even opening his eyes.

Ignoring Dick's foul mood, Hansard simply smiled, "Well the better news is that Bruce Wayne, your kind father and loving of rich beautiful women had his house broken into."

Dick grunted, obviously not caring much.

"They didn't catch them. You're going to investigate thi-"

Dick sat up faster than should be possible, something he was used to doing. " _Nobody_ was caught?"

Hansard shook his head, "Nobody. No clues, no suspects, no nothing. So thus, you."

Dick mulled it over. If it was really that important, then Batman would ask him to do it. The end. Dick let out a theatrical groan and lowered his head back down.

"And what's the bad news?" he asked, although he didn't really want to know.

Hansard grinned, "A friend of mine called in a favour, and let's just say you'll be having a new partner.

Dick's eyes opened, horrified.

"What!?"

Alice could hear the screech of the car on the road. She felt much better now, but the concrete was still heavy on her head. Really heavy. It still hurt.

She sat up and looked out the window. The countryside whipped by fast. It blurred.

Fletcher teleported back to Valkyrie's house. He had bad news. The Roarhaven Citizens were rioting. Again. It may or may not have been something he had done. Such as needling certain people. Anyway, they were rioting, it had nothing to do with him now, and there was nothing to be done. Nothing.

He walked into the living room. Empty. He frowned.

He walked into the dining room. Quiet. The whole house was quiet.

Dead quiet.

He walked into the kitchen. Dexter Vex was sitting there, staring into his coffee. His cold coffee.

"Hey Dexter, the Roarhaven Citizens are rioting," said Fletcher, making sure a lock of hair stuck up just so, "where is everyone?"

Dexter kept staring at his mug, "its Alice," he said.

Fletcher's heart froze. Alice meant so much to them all. Especially Valkyrie. _Particularly_ especially Valkyrie.

"What happened?" He managed.

Dexter met Fletcher's eyes.

"We don't know." He said.

Alice sat up. She was in a room. A white room and she didn't know how she got there.

 **And so, it begins. And because I'm evil, all updating plans have been scrapped, so next chapter is….. whenever. Meh.**


	4. Chapter 4

Valkyrie in Gotham CHAPTER FOUR

 **Hey, uh sorry? Tis late, I know and I got no excuse apart that I am a lazy bastard. It switched POV's every five seconds. So I apologise for that.**

 **Georgie: I'm glad you're willing to wait. This took me forever despite only being so long.**

Valkyrie was running almost insanely late, as always. She wasn't quite sure how she had managed it, after all, the _plane_ wasn't late and she had been _on_ the plane. It seemed as if the universe was working against her.

 _I wouldn't be surprised, especially not after what you pulled._

That wasn't me. That was Darquesse.

 _You mean it wasn't_ all _you._

She glanced around at the airport entrance and noticed that even _Hansard Kray_ was late, which was amazing all in itself. How had he managed it? He was never late. Maybe the universe really _was_ turning against her.

"Valkyrie!" shouted a voice behind her, making her jump. She turned around to see Hansard Kray walking towards her, as handsome as ever.

She scowled at him. Being handsome didn't make up for being late. Mostly.

"You're late," Valkyrie said.

"You're late too," pointed out Hansard Kray.

"But how did you manage to be later than me?" asked Valkyrie.

"The Joker," answered Hansard Kray, leading her to his car.

"Really?" Valkyrie leaned in close, "Did you see the Batman?"

They got in, simultaneously clicking their seatbelts.

Hansard shook his head, "No, they just shut up the roads because of an attack on someplace or another. I didn't see anything."

"Awww…" said Valkyrie, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat, "I wanna see the Batman."

Hansard laughed, "Of course you do, it's not like you yourself are, or know, other brilliant detectives who save the world. No siree."

Valkyrie laughed and it all faded to silence as Valkyrie watched Gotham pass her by. She could see why this place attracted such figures as the Batman and the Joker. It was all dark towering skylines and smog. Shady figures roamed the streets, high or drunk or crazy.

 _What did you expect? This_ is _Gotham._

"Hey Valkyrie," said Hansard his eyes on the road ahead of him, "I've got news."

Valkyrie gave him a suspicious look. Hansard rarely ever had _just_ news.

"Give me the good news first," she prompted.

Hansard sighed, "A crystal was stolen from Bruce Wayne."

"Bruce Wayne?" grinned Valkyrie, "I get to see Bruce Wayne! He's awesome!"

"Ah, ha ha ha," coughed Hansard, "no. He's away at the moment. You'll be working with Dick Grayson as a partner, he's a private detective and-"

"What!?"

Valkyrie glared at Dick. Dick glared at Valkyrie. As first meetings went, it wasn't going so well. Hansard hovered worriedly in the background, before deciding to leave them to it. They both watched him walk away.

"So, um, do you mind dropping my bags off at my hotel room?" asked Valkyrie. She admitted to having a tiny bit of a crush on Dick Grayson when she was younger, but she was no longer going to stand around awkwardly.

Dick Grayson started. What was he doing? He was Dick Grayson, he was born to charm beautiful ladies. He turned up his charming smile to high and bent to pick up his bags to put in her car. Was that a pink teddy bear?

Valkyrie squinted a bit at the stunning smile but decided to take charge and start an actual conversation.

"So, what's Bruce Wayne like, in person, I mean?"

Dick snorted. _He's Batman._ "He's pretty much the same, but he's a great father to me."

 _No kidding. You're like a carbon copy_.

Shut up. Valkyrie thought. And got into the car and soon they were on their way.

Wayne Manor was big. True, Gordon's house was big but Wayne Manor wasn't _just_ opulent it shoved it in your face, all _look at me! I've got money! Bow peasants!_

"Would Madam Edgley like a biscuit?" Alfred asked. He was a butler, an honest to gods butler. And he called her Madam! She wanted a butler now. She could get him to drive her around in a nice car while dressed in a sui-

Oh wait. She had Skulduggery for that. Never mind.

"So, where did you get the crystal from?" she asked Dick.

He raised an eyebrow at her, "You think that the person who gave it to him stole it back? Undetected?"

Valkyrie raised her own eyebrow in return, "What makes you think they didn't?"

Dick snorted. "It was the grumpiest old man I'd ever met. Smart dude but patronising. Hated violence. I don't think the dude is a jewel thief. He was from Ireland, actually."

Valkyrie raised her other eyebrow, "Was his name Kenspeckle?"

Dick frowned. How did a young Irish woman know Kenspeckle? The dude was locked up in his lab all the time, poking dangerous things and discussing magic things with people like Zatanna.

"It was," he replied, "Do you know him? How is he?"

Valkyrie stared at him for the moment, resisting the urge to raise yet another eyebrow, despite the fact she didn't have any more to raise.

"Ah," she said, "He's kinda, you know…." she drew a finger across her throat, "Dead…."

"Oh," Dick's frown widened. Deepened. Whatever. She wondered what he was thinking about.

Dick shifted uncomfortably. He thought it was definitely time to change the subject.

"So," he said, "Let's review the clues."

"I've got nothing," Valkyrie said, although she had detected magic around the case.

"Me, neither," admitted Dick, although he had found a hair around the case. He could get it analysed later. He suspected it to be cat.

They stared at each other for a moment, each refusing to concede.

There was silence.

…

And then:

"Do you want a coffee?" asked Dick.

Valkyrie cradled her coffee in her hands, stealing glances at Dick. He reminded her of someone, somewhere, not to mention he was far more dangerous than he was letting on. A person didn't become a private detective by buying them coffee and incessant flirting. At least she hoped they didn't.

Dick, for his part, was busy texting Tim. He wanted Stephanie Edgley's file. Something about her _screamed_ dangerous, not to mention she wasn't as good as hiding it as he was. Besides, he was sure that she knew something. She knew something and she wasn't telling him.

Valkyrie's phone rang. She picked it up. It was her parents.

"Excuse me," she said to Dick, "I've got to take this call."

Dick nodded, his eyes narrowing at something in the distance. He could see the Riddler, meandering about. _This isn't good_ , he thought, moving away to where he could get changed. Valkyrie was too absorbed in her conversation to notice.

"Hey Mum, Dad," Valkyrie said, "What's up?"

" _Hello Steph_ ," came her Mum's voice from the other side. She sounded tense and tired, " _Is Gotham alright?"_

"Gotham's fine Mum," Valkyrie, "How's thing's back home?"

Her mum took a deep breath, " _Not good_ ," she replied.

"Oh," said Valkyrie, "Oh," she said again, quieter this time, "What's wrong?"

" _It's Alice, she's in hospital, she's got a rare brain tumour and-"_

The entire café zoomed out. Colours muted and sounds faded, and Valkyrie stood up, barely aware that she was doing so.

"What?" she croaked.

" _We're really trying her best for her, Saracen and Dexter took her to the Sanctuary but even for them, there's even so much we can do. The doctors are trying their best but they've never seen anything like it before._ "

"Mum, I'll come home straight away and see Alice, someone else can-"

" _No, Steph_ ," her mum said through tears. Valkyrie recognised how far her mum had come, from almost beating Skulduggery and her detective job out of the house with a mop, to supporting her to _this_. How could she abandon Alice?

" _You need to go do your thing_ ," her mum continued. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a green suited man approach her, " _We'll be fine_."

Valkyrie smiled stoically, "Goodbye mum."

" _Goodbye Steph."_

Valkyrie hung up just as the green suited man started talking to her.

"I run but cannot walk, I sing but cannot speak, I touch but cannot feel, and in the dark I eat. What am I?"

Nightwing got changed and came back fast enough to watch Stephanie beat the ever loving crap out of the Riddler. She was skilled, obviously been training for a long time but she seemed a little rusty. When she finished with an elbow to the nose and the Riddler obviously decided he'd had enough and left, he approached to give her a reprimanding. He had a feeling there would be a chance she would listen if it were Nightwing himself speaking those words.

Stephanie collapsed back in the chair in the abandoned coffee shop and burst into tears. Nightwing froze. Maybe words of comfort from an idol would work better in this situation. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she started and wiped her eyes and put on a cheerful façade.

"Woah, Nightwing." Stephanie put her arm over her eyes, coincidentally covering the red puffiness, "I'm blinded by your hotness. Do you mind turning it down a little? And where were you five second ago?"

"Watching you beat up the Riddler. You have some nice moves there."

"Is that so? I'll have you know I'm a little rusty, maybe you could show me some of your moves sometime?"

"Sometime? Why not now?" he leaned in closer, sitting on the table.

"Well-"

" _Dude!_ I've been looking all over for you and you're in some coffee shop chatting up some chick? Not cool man, the Team needs you, like pronto."

Both Nightwing and Valkyrie looked at the red and yellow figure standing at the door of the coffee shop, shaking his head in mock disapproval at the sight.

"Sorry," Nightwing said regretfully, flipping lithely over the tables to stand next to Kid Flash at the door, "Duty calls, I'm afraid."

They disappeared in a blur, with only the sound of Kid Flash complaining left behind. Valkyrie smiled after them, before the warmth in her heart froze over. Alice was sick. Alice was very sick and Alice needed help and she was stuck here, on this stupid case with stupid Klarion in stupid Gotham.

She thunked her head on the table and resumed crying.

 **Ta….da? Oh well. I'll try to update sometime soonish.**


End file.
